You and Me Both, Kid
by twilightstargazer
Summary: Because standing in front of him with her green eyes blown wide and mouth shaped in a small 'o' is Lily Evans and James is just about hoping that the ground would open up beneath his feet and swallow him whole.


_**I did a tumblr giveaway for my birthday so this is the first of... five? Six? I don't even know. I am but a small, science-y human with terrible time management skills. For timeturnerlord over on tumblr. Also the rating could maybe be an M but oh well. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**_

* * *

 **You and Me Both, Kid**

* * *

He probably stands there in the doorway gaping at her for at least a full minute before he manages to snatch his jaw back up from the ground and tries his best to look put together. (He's fairly certain that he does not, but, well, a bloke can dream, yeah?)

Harry- bless his soul- doesn't realise that his father is undergoing some form of existential crisis, and grabs his hand in one of his small, sticky ones, dragging him into the classroom where some of the other parents are already milling about. He gets a few looks thrown his way from some of the older ones and despite the anxiety gnawing away at his insides, James still manages to roll his eyes at them and ignores the disapproving sniffs that follow.

James can't- look, he's not one who puts a lot of stock into 'fate' and 'destiny' and all that hogwash, but right now he's around 87% certain that someone up there is having a great laugh at his expense.

The teacher- Ms _Evans_ , he now knows- still hasn't noticed him as yet, but Harry is already tugging him over to her and all James can do is shut his eyes and send a quick prayer up to whoever might be listening even if they are laughing at him.

She's chatting away with another set of parents in front of him and Harry is rocking back and forth on his heels, practically vibrating with excitement. The pair soon leaves, and then it's just him and Harry and James pinpoints the exact moment she realises what's happening when her smile practically falls off her face.

Because standing in front of him with her green eyes blown wide and mouth shaped in a small 'o' is _Lily_ _Evans_ and James is just about hoping that the ground would open up beneath his feet and swallow him whole.

* * *

It all starts when he deviates from his routine.

James likes having a routine- or at least some semblance of one. Usually he gets up at six thirty and has breakfast on the table before seven (always dinosaur shaped pancakes and grape juice) before waking Harry for school and getting him ready. Sirius or whoever is free that evening picks up Harry from school and keeps him until James is back. Then it's dinner and homework and bed time promptly at eight for Harry and whenever the words start to blur together for James. It gives him a sense of purpose, something to stick to and pretend that yes, he is a competent twenty four year old with a five year old kid who has his shit together.

(He does not, in fact, have his shit together, but he's all about faking it til you make it, so he tries.)

It's the same routine he's had for the past four years since his ex girlfriend showed up out of nowhere and dumped a squalling one year old and some cloth diapers on his doorstep before disappearing off the surface of the earth, and he hasn't had any serious missteps just yet, making him consider it to be a win.

So yeah, the whole routine thing works out pretty well. Sure, he doesn't have as much free time available since he's caring for an actual human 24/7, but Sirius, Remus and Peter come over often enough and that's all he really needs in terms of social interaction. Except then one night in the middle of July, his office staff invites him out for drinks and since James doesn't want to be _that_ guy- the boss who's only ever your boss/ you know nothing about/ some phantom who you only see between the hours of nine and five on weekdays- he agrees and then calls up his parents to ask if they could keep Harry for the rest of the evening.

They go out to a bar called the Leaky Cauldron, which is filled with people, but not uncomfortably so, surprising what with it being a Friday and all. He offers to get the first round of drinks for the table and is making his way over to the counter when he spots her and almost falls flat on his face.

(He doesn't, but he does stumble into a chair causing some of the nearby patrons to glance over at him. Suddenly he's very glad that Sirius isn't there.)

He's not- James doesn't go out much and he goes out on dates even less. He has sole custody of a nearly five year at old that he raises with the help of his parents and his mates. He doesn't have time for dating or hooking up and yet here he is standing in the middle of the bar veritably gobsmacked.

The first thing he notices is dark red hair that gleams despite the muted ambiance lighting over the counter. The second thing is the pale, smooth skin of her legs which seem to go on for miles before disappearing under a very short black skirt that makes his mouth go dry and forget how to form words for a moment.

James shakes his head, trying to get his bearings straight before resuming the trek up to the counter and trying not to further embarrass himself.

He takes a seat on the vacant barstool next to the woman, who seems to be glaring at her almost empty glass, and waits on the barman to come take his order.

'You know, if it offends you so much, you can just order another,' he says to her, jerking his towards the glass.

A pair of impossibly green eyes snaps over to him and he almost reels back from the intensity of her glare. Almost.

'I'll pass, thank you,' she says evenly, turning back to her now empty drink and fiddles around with her phone. The conversation drops and James turns back to face front, pulling out his own phone to pretend to play Candy Crush while staring at her out of the corner of his eye. The woman kept on flicking on and off again, sometimes idly swiping through pages of apps and sometimes just glaring at the time.

Eventually, James couldn't control himself anymore so he asks, 'Waiting for someone?'

He gaze slides over to him again, this time a bit less intense and she seems to sigh, resigning herself to the fact that she may just have to put up with him for a bit. 'Waiting to go home actually,' she corrects him. The corners of her mouth quirk up into a wry smile. 'It doesn't seem to be proper bar etiquette to just down one drink and run. Who even does that?'

'Bar etiquette? Is that really a thing?' he teases her before motioning to the bartender. 'Well, in my opinion, it seems less sad if you have two drinks before you cut and run.'

To his immense pleasure, it manages to elicit a giggle from the redhead next to him just as the bartender comes up to take his order. James rattles off a list of drinks, a goofy smile stretching across his face after managing to get her to laugh and after a quick sidelong glance back at her, he tacks on, '...and another of whatever she's having,' at the end of his spiel.

She hitches an eyebrow. 'Who said I wanted another?' she asks, propping her head on her arm and leaning forward just a little bit.

'Proper bar etiquette so you'll seem less sad,' he shoots back and her entire face lights up in such a way that James is suddenly glad that he's sitting. He's fairly certain that the sheer shock of seeing that wide, toothy smile flashed his way would cause him to fall to his knees had he been standing.

'Alright, I'll give you that one,' she says, still grinning. She turns to him fully and sticks out a hand. 'My name is Lily.'

He accepts it, his hand almost entirely enveloping her smaller one. 'I'm James.'

'Well James, I guess I should thank you for helping me maintain proper bar etiquette,' Lily says.

'Pleasure,' he nods at her. 'Why are you here, if you don't mind me asking? You didn't seem as if you were particularly happy to be here when I showed up.'

She runs a finger around the rim of her empty glass for a moment, seeming to be mulling over her answer in her head. 'I got turned down from a job I applied to so my friend thought she'd cheer me up by getting me utterly smashed for the weekend. And then she got a little sidetracked,' she glances over to a couple at the other end of the bar who are almost sitting in each other's chair. 'So I was left alone in bar when I could have been home, watching Netflix and drinking wine.'

'Well,' he begins a bit hesitantly, raking his fingers through his hair to muss it up a little. He notices the way her eyes follow his hand on its journey. 'Maybe now you won't be alone at the bar?'

A single unimpressed eyebrow rises and James cringes internally. 'Are you asking me or telling?'

'Er- both?'

Lily seems to appraise him for a second, raking her eyes across his figure from head to toe while James tries not to fidget. When her eyes finally lands back on his, she smiles softly and says, 'All right.'

James tries not to grin too stupidly but he must have failed a little as she smirks at him. The bartender slides his tray over to them and James plucks out her drink- a gin and tonic he thinks- and passes it over to her while taking out his whiskey before sending the rest of the drinks off to the booth his co-workers had managed to snag.

At the end of the first half hour together, Lily is teasing him about only drinking whiskey.

At the end of the first hour together she manages to get him up to play a round of pool and James realises just how short her skirt is when she bends over the pool table. He loses the first round. Quickly.

At the end of the third hour together they're bickering over just how good the new Star Wars might be. She punched him for what was apparently a wrong opinion and James let her steal his drink, finding it adorable when she grimaced as the whiskey spilt down her throat.

By the fourth, they've already had two full blown arguments about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and whether or not Ross from FRIENDS really is a dick. Lily has called him an arrogant toerag at least twice thus far, along with other strange insults that he found both oddly amusing and intriguing.

And then somehow, at the end of the fifth, James finds himself on his knees in front of her in a cramped bathroom stall, with her underwear in his back pocket for safekeeping, as he laps between her legs.

Six hours later he's back in his old bedroom in his parent's house with angry red claw marks down his back and a satisfied smile on his face. It's a bit after two in the morning and he falls asleep nearly instantaneously.

* * *

James liked the Lily he met at the bar and, if there hadn't been alcohol involved, he probably would have remembered to ask her for her number. But there was alcohol involved and he didn't get her number so while he griped about it to Sirius for about a week or so, he moved on with his life, sometimes only sparing her a thought when it's late at night and he can't sleep. (Or when he was in the shower sometimes, but that's neither here nor there.)

Miss Evans however... Miss Evans is possibly Harry's favourite person just after Sirius who he talks about nonstop all the time. Miss Evans it the one he's always referring to, with things like 'Miss Evans told the funniest joke today, daddy,' or 'Miss Evans told me that I had the neatest handwriting she's ever seen!' or something of that sort. And more importantly, Miss Evans is _his son's year one teacher_ who he shagged in bathroom stall nearly three months ago and thought he would never see again.

It's then that he realises that he sometimes had a wank while thinking of his son's year one teacher and oh my god.

James hopes that he can make the floor swallow him whole by the sheer force of his will.

Evans seems to be better at making sense of the whole situation than he is (that, or hiding her shock pretty damn well) because she's smiling at him- tight and tense and completely fake- when Harry bounces up to her saying, 'Miss Evans, this is my daddy.'

She holds out her hand just like she did that night at the bar for him to shake. 'Pleasure, Mr _Potter_ ,' she says, clipped, and, maybe it's just his imagination, but she seems to place angry emphasis on his surname.

James slides his hand into hers and tries to ignore that her skin is just as soft as he remembered it being. Lily only squeezes his hand for a brief second before dropping it like it burnt. He honestly can't blame her; he was just about to do the same thing.

'Miss Evans is my favourite person ever,' Harry stage whispers at him and despite the tense atmosphere between them, both Lily and James smile down fondly at him.

'I'm sure she is, mate,' he says in response, messing up his son's hair before letting his hand rest on his shoulder. He turns back to Evan who was watching the pair with an unreadable expression. 'Harry has told me a lot about you. Only nice things, of course.'

The tight smile was back in place once more. 'He's definitely one of the brightest in class,' she replies before pulling a mock stern face and crouching so that she was almost the same height as Harry. 'But he's also a bit mischievous, isn't he?' she says, reaching out to tweak his nose so that the boy let out a peal of laughter. A funny wave of fondness sweeps over James as he watches her with his son, so open and carefree. Of course, she is back to her closed off self once more when she sees him staring at her. Lily stands back up.

'I'm afraid I was never the strictest parent out there,' confesses James, glancing at her for a brief moment before going back to stare at her shoulder. He is fairly certain that is stared at her eyes for too long he might do something stupid. Like kiss her. Or maybe pick a fight with her or something, seeing that that's how they managed to get themselves in this mess in the first place. He's stupid and inept like that.

(James didn't know that arguing with her was a thing that he was into once it leads to something else but apparently it is and he's only slightly mortified.)

He doesn't stay and chat long with Lily; after all, there are nearly thirty other parents waiting to speak to their child's teacher too and James really doesn't want to monopolise her time. Quite the opposite in fact. He honestly can't wait to get away from her because so far he hasn't said or done anything too embarrassing while talking to her and it's only a matter of time until his luck runs out. So instead the two of them suffer through a very strained conversation about performance and behaviour for the next few minutes, with mottled pink cheeks and a newfound inability to look the other in the eye for more than two seconds while talking.

Their entire conversation must have taken five minutes at most, but it felt like a small eternity to James. He can't leave yet unfortunately, as she still needed to address the parents as a whole, but he does spot Frank Longbottom and his wife so he goes over to chat with them until Evans gives them her own little talk and a breakdown of the year.

James stands in the back of the classroom, trying and failing to not stare at her. The Lily he met at the bar was all tight dark clothing with daring hemlines and gravity defying shoes. The Miss Evans standing at the front of the classroom telling them about science projects wears a red, polka dot sundress with a white cardigan thrown over it and sensible pumps. It's a bit disconcerting for him to reconcile this person with the woman he met at the bar.

(What's even scarier is that he's not sure which one he's more attracted to and, fuck, he's so screwed.)

* * *

Sirius laughs at him when he tells him about his day and only shuts up when James flings some of his Pad Thai at him. Even then though, he just smirks at his best friend and says, 'Seems like you and the sprog have a type.'

James growls. 'Shut up Black.'

Another bark like laugh escaped his friend and James wonders if it would be worth it to throw his fork at him. Harry might see though, and the last thing he needs is an overexcited five year thinking that it was okay to start throwing things at people. He decides against it with a sigh, but kicks Sirius in the shins just for good measure.

'Look, what are the chances that the bird you spent half of your summer mooning over turns out to be the same bird your son thinks hung the moon? It's fucking hilarious that is,' Sirius snorts.

'Language,' James hisses at him, glancing at Harry who was diligently sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework.

Sirius merely waved him off and takes a large mouthful of beer. 'Did you at least talk to her?' he asks, setting down his plate and turning up the volume on the tv so there isn't any chance of Harry overhearing the conversation.

'Oh yeah definitely. I managed to slip it in right after she told me about Harry's bit of pranking,' says James flatly whilst rolling his eyes. 'What do you think?'

'Well I for one think you're a fucking pansy who needs to get his shit sorted out,' muses Sirius who ducks just in time to avoid the fist James swung his way with a grin.

'Cheers mate,' he snaps bitterly before taking a swig of his beer.

Once again, Sirius chortles, but quickly sobers, face taking on a no nonsense expression that he usually saves for dire situations. James is simultaneously relieved and horrified that he thinks of it as a dire situation.

'Look, you should talk to her. Clear the air or whatever. Obviously you like her, and she might like you back considering she let you fuck her in a bathroom stall even though you're kind of gangly and weird looking-'

'You're such a confidence booster,' James deadpans.

Sirius gives him an unimpressed look. 'Talk to her. Usually I'm all up for leaving things as is and legging it, but that's only in cases where we're never seeing each other again. Your case is a bit different.'

'Because I slept with my son's teacher.'

'In your defence, you didn't know she was going to be his teacher,' he points out, 'But yes, that's the main reason why. Plus she might not know that you're perpetually single and too fucking inept to mingle.'

'I am never going out with my co-workers ever again.'

Sirius pats him on the back. 'You're a mess, Potter.'

'I know,' groans James, swiping a hand across his face and nearly knocking his glasses off his nose. His hair is in more disarray than usual and, combined with his now off kilter glasses, he looks to be the most stressed out Sirius has ever seen him be in a long time. His so called best friend can't manage to hold in a snigger at his appearance. James feels like he totally deserves the glare he throws his way.

Sirius grasps his shoulder as he gets up from the couch. 'A fucking mess,' he reiterates before grabbing the plates and heading to the kitchen to wash them, ruffling Harry's hair as he goes. Just before he turns on the tap, he hears the sound of James groaning loudly from the couch and doesn't even bother to hide his grin anymore.

* * *

James does plan on taking Sirius' advice- eventually.

He just doesn't have that much time available to skip down into the city at half two on evenings to use picking up Harry as an excuse to see and talk to her again. He's an adult with a very important job that he can't just drop for no reason so he could make to time to talk to one of his former one night stands. (Okay, so maybe his job is just him signing onto whatever advertisement looks the coolest for whatever new hair product they're trying to promote, but he has his own assistant and secretary and an entire crew of staff members working under him. Anyone with their own assistant and secretary and entire crew of staff members must be busy people. It's practically a rule.)

Sirius just can't see into his logic like this, always rolling his eyes when James jumps into a long winded speech about honour and integrity when asked if he spoke to Evans yet. James tries to reassure himself that Sirius would also probably roll his eyes if he did in fact talk to Evans, but it's done half heartedly because even he can't seem to make this lie work.

It's a month after what James likes to think of as 'The Incident' (capitalizations fucking earned thank you very much) when it seems like the universe has also gotten fed up of his procrastination and decides to take matters into its own hands. He wants to find a way to blame Sirius for the whole thing but doesn't know exactly how to this time. (Give him until the end of the day; he'll come up with something that pins the blame on his meddling friend- maybe even rope Remus and Peter into it too.)

He just has enough time to think 'Fuck everything' before Evans turns around only for her eyes to widen in shock when she sees him standing at the front of the aisle with a shopping basket clenched in his white knuckles.

She's in another one of her sundresses- this time a blue and yellow one that cinched at the waist and with straps about the width on two of his fingers put together. The sweetheart neckline accentuates the curve of her neck and, more importantly, the curve of her chest. James tries to not let his eyes linger on the dip of her cleavage and finds it very very hard to do just that. She seems to have a certain penchant for dresses with a bit of a retro vibe and for a split second his brain assault him with images of him ducking beneath those flared out skirts or mouthing his way across her neckline. He lets his eyes drop to the linoleum floor while colour floods his cheeks. He looks near homeless in a pair of sweatpants and an old t shirt that had a small hole in the collar while she's here doing her shopping looking like _that_ and making him think very inappropriate things.

'Potter?' she blurts out, shocked at him being at the same grocery store the same time as she.

James being the prick that he is, ducks his head while bring his hand up to mess up his hair as he says, 'Present.'

The set of her jaw and the pursed lips is enough to tell him that she isn't particularly amused by his antics. Somehow that doesn't stop him from grinning.

'Evans,' he says at last, trying to not fidget under her calculating stare, 'How goes things?'

Her eyebrows shoot up at his attempt to be casual and James debates how many tin cans of peas he would have to hit himself with before he's knocked out. Why on earth is he so stupid?

She clears her throat and grasps at her trolley with whitened knuckles. 'Er- things are fine I guess?'

She looks so adorably confused by her own response that James can't help but snort out a laugh. When he glances back at her she seems just about ready to run him over with her cart which- he's mentioned he may have a thing for arguing with Lily, right? Well, there's a 90% chance that that has stemmed from the fact that he _knows_ he has a thing for angry Lily.

He's pathetic and inept and hopeless, he knows this.

'That's- good,' he says lamely, finally giving into the urge to ruffle his hair. For a few dragging seconds, they just stare at each other as the tension thickened between them until James finally cracks and manages to say, 'Look, my best friend thinks that I should probably talk to you and, I don't know, 'clear the air' or something of the sort which I was going to do eventually but things keep popping up and I swear I'm not avoiding you or anything, I've just been busy, but yeah, do you want to meet up for coffee sometime and maybe, um, talk?'

He's going to lock himself in of those large freezers at the other end of the aisle and try to slowly freeze himself to death because he is an idiot.

Evans is looking at him as though he's not fully stable which, after the word vomit he just spewed, is not really too farfetched of a theory to make. However, she also does seem to be fighting a smile, so James is keeping his fingers crossed.

After what seems like an eternity of deliberation, she hesitantly nods and he feels like his heart might just beat out of his chest the way it's thumping against his sternum. Blood would go everywhere, including on her pretty dress and she looks like the type of woman who might strangle him with a designer purse strap if he so much as stains any part of her wardrobe.

James can't stop himself from grinning like an idiot though, and this time Evans doesn't even bother to hide her smirk. 'Is next Saturday fine?' she asks him, trying her best to sound polite, but it's all belied by the grin.

He agrees and the two of them hash out logistics. Five minutes later, she's walking away from him, hips swaying and the clack of her shoes against the floor echoing through the aisle.

James waits until she's out of sight to fist pump in the air.

* * *

Sirius, Remus and Peter show up at his house next Saturday in the midst of his fourth freak out of the morning. So far he's brushed his hair twice in an effort to style it into order (he deliberates using some of his father's hair products which he has millions of all over the place, but banishes the thought as quick as it came), and changed shirts four times.

It doesn't take too long for Remus to get fed up with up his stupidity, so James is hauled back to his bedroom and doesn't emerge until twenty minutes later in a band t shirt, dark jeans, and a pair of Sharpie scribbled Converse. Remus all but frog marches him to the door and Peter has to throw him his keys. Sirius mainly cackles. Not for the first time James wonders what happened to make them best friends.

His palms are sweating by the time he pulls up at the small cafe she had picked. Lily isn't here yet, so James takes a seat and plays around on his phone until she is.

When Lily finally does arrive, his phone slips out of his grasp and lands on the table with a small thump.

(He really needs to stop doing stupid things when he sees here.)

She's in another dress, this time a deep purple halter one, with a row of buttons going up the back and an A-line skirt that ends just a few inches above her knee. He hates it and loves it at the same time.

They both grab coffee and sit down together, awkwardly sipping at their beverages and picking at a shared pastry.

Lily is the one to break the silence this time by blurting out, 'I didn't know you have a kid,' and he cheeks immediately flush. James thinks it just makes her look cuter.

He nods at her. 'Yeah; my ex just showed up out of the blue one day and tossed me a baby, saying that it's mine, before disappearing of the face of the earth,' he explains as concisely as possible.

'How'd you know he was really yours?'

'Paternity test.'

'Oh.' She toys with the bit of foamed milk at the top of her latte. When she looks up, her bottom lip is clenched between her teeth and she asks in a small voice, 'So there isn't any wife or girlfriend in the picture?'

'No,' he shakes his head vehemently. 'Just me and Harry. And my mates and parents, of course, but no wife or other kids that I know of.'

Lily nods to herself and seems to smile more easily when she looks back up at him. James can't help but smile back.

Somehow he's not as surprised as he thought he might have been when they're fervently snogging in the backseat of his car less than a half hour later. James finds it hard to care when he's got a cute redhead perched on his lap with her skirt riding up dangerously high on her thighs.

Later when he comes back home, Peter jumps to his feet and points at the other two with a sort of vindictive glee. 'Ha! Pay up!' he says before holding out his hand for a very grumpy Sirius and Remus to deposit a fiver each.

'Damn it James,' grouses Sirius as he puts his wallet away, 'Couldn't you have kept it in your pants for one evening?'

'Couldn't you have not come home for one evening?' counters Remus, looking similarly annoyed

James stands there in the doorway staring at the trio. 'Are you seriously betting on me and Lily?'

They all unashamedly chorus yes to him.

'How'd you even know something happened?' he demands, shucking his coat and toeing his boots off.

'There's lipstick on your collar,' start Remus.

'And a hickey on your neck,' follows Peter.

'Plus your face is doing that thing where you're trying not to preen so you end up looking like a constipated peacock,' ends Sirius.

James glances over to where Harry sits, completely absorbed in the tv show, before he flips them all off and disappears into his room to change. He comes back out in sweats and a threadbare t shirt and flops down on the couch.

'So what's the verdict?' asks Remus, glancing over at him.

'She's funny and talented and smart and isn't afraid to argue with me or punch me or kiss me,' says James with a sigh.

'You can't marry the girl you just met,' hums Peter noncommittally. 'Just saying.'

He sighs again, sinking further into the couch. 'I know. I just- she's amazing?' He rubs his temples and shuts his eyes tightly. 'I don't know what exactly she wants because we got a little bit, uh, sidetracked, but I know that if she spontaneously asked me to move to Peru with her to raise llamas, I probably would just run it past Harry first before asking her what time is our flight.'

Sirius pretends to gag, Peter rolls his eyes, and Remus just pats him on the back. 'I'm sure you two will figure it out somehow.'

* * *

They do not figure it out somehow.

Instead, they spend the better part of the school year hooking up in random places and trying to see who can catch the most popcorn with their mouth while cuddling on her couch naked. James comes to chaperone a fieldtrip to the zoo, and they end up snogging for ten minutes behind a jellyfish display while the kids are getting a lecture on cold blooded animals. Lily bakes cookies- slightly burnt gingerbread- for her class and sends some home with Harry for him near Christmas, and they both get each other outrageously stupid gifts (she buys him an entire Sleakeasy's Collection, wrapping it in paper that's patterned with little combs that James doesn't even know where she got, while he buys her an oversized mug that reads 'my favourite **_tea_** cher' which she threatens to throw at him, but he sees it in her sink at home sometimes when he goes over.)

She meets his mates and he meets hers, though it's not exactly planned, but they just go with it. He learns that the dresses comprise a good 75% of her entire wardrobe, and no matter what the situation, he always wants to find a way to slowly unwrap it from her body, and savour every inch of newly exposed skin. It doesn't take long for Lily to realise this, and she ends up buying a new dress every month just to tease him. Sometimes, when Harry is with his grandparents for the weekend, they do not but lounge around her apartment in minimal clothing, watching dumb lifetime movies and ordering take out for every meal of the day. They don't go on dates, but he does get her tickets to a play she wants to see for her birthday and she takes him go cart racing for his.

Sirius says that they're pretty much dating anyway; it's not that hard to figure it out if anyone spends five minutes in their company.

James says that Sirius is a bloody wanker who doesn't know what he's talking about.

The only dark spot in all of this, is that Harry doesn't know.

They've both agreed that it's for the best to keep him out of it at least until he's no longer one of Lily's students, but it gets harder and harder each time they 'accidentally' meet up at the park and get ice cream later, or somehow end up at the same cinema to see the same movie. He's lucky that Harry is just five, and not particularly perceptive to all of this. He's pretty sure that even his parents know that he's seeing somebody. Meanwhile Harry is just generally excited when he sees her in public and can't stop talking to her until it's time for one of them to leave. It's cute, and it makes James' heart swell impossibly huge to see the two most important people in his life getting along like this.

Despite all of this, it's probably Harry that they have to blame when they finally do figure out their shit.

Coming down to the end of the term, Lily has a parents' day to give a short recap on each child to his or her parent. James and Harry are among the last to go, and James can't help but be a little shit when he walks up to the desk.

'Miss Evans,' he says cordially, holding out his hand for her to shake and acting as though he hadn't just seen her yesterday evening.

Lily's eyes sparkle and he has to bite back a stupid grin. 'Mr Potter,' she replies, shaking his hand, firm and sure, just like she is about nearly everything else in life. 'It's a pleasure to see you again.'

'And you,' he says as he pulls out his chair so that he can sit.

They don't spend too long talking about Harry's performance in school; after all, he gets weekly, if not daily, updates from her all the time. It's only when it's coming to the close of the evening and he's about to stand up leave does Harry tug on his hand.

'Can we keep Miss Evans? Please?' he asks, eyes wide and imploring. 'I don't want her to leave.'

James smiles crookedly over his head over to Lily who's staring at Harry a little bit in shock. Her cheeks have taken on a pinkish tint.

He reaches out a to ruffle Harry's hair. 'Hmm... We'll have to see what Miss Evans thinks about that first,' he replies and Harry immediately turns to face her with his large innocent eyes and slightly trembling chin.

Lily's smile softens and she lets her hand slide across the desk to slip into his, out of sight from the rest of parents milling around. 'I think that's a great idea,' she says softly, squeezing his hand.

Harry lets out an elated squeal while James just grins at her- big and dopey and just _completely stupid_ \- and he squeezes her hand.

He thinks it's a great idea too.

* * *

 _ **Leave a comment and you will get my love in return.**_

 _ **xoxo  
Nai :) **_


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